DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – The storm from Thursday night brought devastation to life, buildings, and nature after a tornado destroyed cars, buildings and trees in its path, also cutting electricity to more than 400,000 residents. 

“We’re fairly certain it was a tornado that traveled south of Webberville in Ingham County along Interstate 96,” said Steve Considine, senior forecaster with the agency’s office in White Lake Township to the Detroit News. “A storm survey will be conducted later today to determine its strength and path length.”  Five deaths have so far been reported as a result of the storm that crossed the state from Grand Rapids to the Detroit area. 

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One person died and several others were seriously injured on Interstate 96 near Lansing when a possible tornado tossed cars, triggering a large pileup of more than 25 vehicles, the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office said according to the Weather Channel. 

“I-96 remains closed between Williamston Road and M-52 due to trees down over the expressway, with MDOT crews working on clearing that up,” Ingham County Emergency Management said on social media. “M-52 has just reopened but there is still debris along it near I-96, and many of the roads in and around Williamston and Webberville remain impassable due to trees. Avoid driving in that part of the county.”

As crews worked into the night, surveillance was delayed until Aug. 25 until more favorable conditions were established. 

“Our drone team is surveying some of the damage now and MSP Aviation is on the way to make a few passes as well,” Ingham County Emergency Management said on social media. “We will fly again at daylight to do a full analysis of the damage and assist the National Weather Service as we determine the strength and intensity of what most likely was a tornado.”

Early reports clocked winds at 71 miles per hour at Capital Area International Airport in Lansing as the storm moved across the area. Heavy lighting, winds and a possible tornado caused building damage near Williamston, reportedly tossing cars traveling on I-96.

As few as five roads in Chesterfield Township are closed as a result of flooding, officials said.

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“With the unprecedented 5.72 inches of rain we received overnight, many Chesterfield Township roads and subdivisions have standing water,” they said in a statement. “As of 4 a.m. several major roads still may be impassable. Please exercise extreme caution and avoid these areas if at all possible.”

One of the main suppliers of power in Michigan, DTE, took to social media to alert customers of the risks after the storm. 

“Keep pets and children inside if you have a downed power line in your area and wait to clean up debris as downed lines could be hidden within. Stay at least 25 feet away from all power lines and anything they’re in contact with and consider them live and dangerous.

With hundreds of thousands without power, some have called into question the grid’s current ability to provide for the state, and power providers’ cost rate increase. 

“I understand infrastructure improvements require heavy investments, but given the absolute failure of this company to provide reliable service, it’s a bad joke for them to expect the customers or taxpayers to provide those funds,” one of the 500 commenters on the DTE price rate case wrote, opposing the price hike. “Allowing them to pass these costs onto the consumer would be an absolute failure of our legislature.”

DTE also encouraged customers to report outages and other concerns as the company seeks to restore power to the state. 

“Report outages and downed power lines at http://outage.dteenergy.com, through the DTE Energy Mobile app or by calling 800-477-4747,” DTE said on social media. “Our Storm Response Teams are working to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. Thank you and be safe.”